Search

Purpose: In this Report we analyse the place of civic education in the Greek Education system. The integration of civic education into education since 1982 represents a major step forward in the upgrading of general education. However the curricula are mainly characterised by teacher-centred approaches, with a strong emphasis on the achievement of cognitive objectives and little emphasis on the learning process and teaching strategy. Design/methodology/approach: This report is based on an analysis of the place of social studies in the Greek education system. We analysed the aims of the curricula, the role of teachers, the didactic approaches, the educational practices and the assessment. Findings: From our analysis we have detected a gap between the public rhetoric about the role of social sciences and their implementation in the Greek education. Although it seems that the general principles of curricula are permeated by a more democratic and flexible note which encourages critical thinking and participation, they are not implemented in practice and by and large are annulled due to the great emphasis the Greek education system places on knowledge acquisition and exams. The elimination of Social studies in some classes points to a school which is cut off from the current socio-economic reality, thus condemning students to a passive attitude towards social and educational affairs. Research limitations/implications: This article reports on the research conducted on civic education since the 1990's and onwards. The study of all these researches leads us to the conclusion that neither the curricula nor the textbooks of social studies courses have been extensively analysed, and this could be a future field of research. Another area of research is the role of school charters, the didactic approaches and the assessment in this course in the Greek education context. Practical implications: Upheavals in the history of the Greek governmental system and democracy left their indelible mark on citizens' education; changes in the title of the course, the time allotted to its teaching and the content of school knowledge evidence its dependence on the respective socio-political and ideological regime as well as its indoctrinational character. The turning points in civic education which can be pinpointed between 1982 and 2003 were linked with the educational policy of socialist governments and the gradual paradigm shift in social studies.

In the early twentieth century, pedagogy, both as theory and practice, was revisited under the influence of two important reform movements. Pedagogy, a newly emerging discipline, established itself as an academic field and placed children, and their needs and experiences, at the core of its research. In Greece, the attempt to study the physical and mental development of children was closely linked with the attainment of national goals. This article looks into the attempt of interwar greek educators to delineate and demarcate "normality" and "morbidity" with regard to the development and expression of feelings during childhood. we examine how contemporary sociopolitical conditions, as well as eugenics, influenced not only the scientific discourse on "pathological" emotions but also the ways a new signification model of "normal" and "anomalous" child emotions impacted public discourse on education and the development of the educational system in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific origins and the development of eugenic and racial theories formulated by physicians, jurists and intellectuals since the early twentieth century have only recently attracted scholarly attention. However, the dissemination of eugenic measures regarding the social policy that Greek interwar governments implemented to protect the health of mothers and children still remains an underresearched topic. Our contribution presents the main points of the discussion about the relation of eugenics and puericulture and traces its development among paediatricians in the 1920s and 1930s. It further looks into the stakes, the ambivalent attitude and the eugenic proposals of both liberal and authoritarian governments concerning the protection of childhood and motherhood as well as into their respective demographic policies during the interwar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of L'Année de la Recherche en Sciences de l'Education is the property of L'Harmattan Edition Diffusion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of the article is to provide an analysis of the introduction of principles of New Education in Greece in the beginning of the twentieth century. It focuses on the influence of this movement on Greek pedagogues, especially on those who had studied in Germany, and who tried afterwards to introduce them in the didactic sphere and in the pedagogical field. Their ideas and principles related to New Education and the School of Work (Arbeitschule) and their way of putting them into practice inside the educational system are analysed, including the creation of a certain curriculum, the way of teaching some courses, and the use of certain educational/didactical methods. It is also intended to show how the most important issues of pedagogy and didactics were developed and analysed by the most important pedagogical journals of this period. Attention is paid mainly to the difficulties faced by those who attempted to introduce this system in Greece with regard to a series of factors that differentiate the Greek paradigm from similar endeavours in other European countries. Among these factors one should mention the problem of the language and the consequent ideological antithesis, and the educational reforms in relation to the sociopolitical situation in Greece during the aforementioned period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]